In General David Petraeus’ last public hearing before the Armed Services Committee in January, Hillary asked the top military commander in Iraq to request whatever funding was necessary to keep U.S. troops safe: “[Hillary] urged Petraeus to ask Congress for all resources necessary to provide the troops with adequate equipment,” wrote Roxana Tiron in The Hill last January.

According to the Republican National Committee, Hillary asked Gen. Petraeus to request “every possible piece of equipment and resource necessary to protect” U.S. Troops.

Said Hillary at the time:

“So the one thing that I would ask the General is — please do everything you can to get additional security. The Humvees are turning into death traps, as we see the sophistication of the IEDs [improvised explosive devices]. We don’t have enough of the mine protection vehicles and we haven’t even ordered enough and we haven’t put them into the theater. If we’re going to put these soldiers and marines into these very exposed positions, which this strategy calls for, please come to us; ask for whatever you need to try to provide maximum protection.

“… [L]et’s make sure we have every possible piece of equipment and resource necessary to protect these young men and women …”

Gen. Petraeus replied: “I’ll do that, Senator,” according to testimony recorded by the Committee On The Armed Services, U.S. Senate on Jan. 7, 2007.

In March, Gen. Petraeus warned that a delay in emergency spending funds would have an adverse impact on his mission, saying: “If those resources are not forthcoming, then obviously, it would have an impact on us.” (PBS’ “The News Hour,” 3/4/07)

Incredibly, in May, Hillary voted against providing funding for the same critical equipment she cited in the January hearing, voting against providing funds for the troops contained in the Iraq Emergency Spending Bill. (H.R. 2206, CQ Vote #181: Passed 80-14: R 42-3; D 37-10; I 1-1, 5/24/07, Clinton Voted Nay)

Based on revised assumptions, the trustees now estimate that by 2041 the system’s trust fund will be exhausted, meaning the system will only be able to pay out a percentage of the benefits currently promised. In this case, the trustees estimate the system will be able to pay out 74 percent of benefits.

In their 2004 report, the trustees estimated the trust fund would be exhausted in 2042.

They also now estimate that by 2017 the system will not be taking in enough in payroll taxes to pay all benefits promised and will need to tap the special-issue bonds that make up its trust fund. That date was moved up from 2018.

The amount of the shortfall facing the system over the next 75 years was revised upward to $4 trillion from $3.7 trillion.